Friday, 28 March 2014

A nice to do knit, no great thinking yet not mindlessly tiresome, from Debbie Bliss' The Knitter's Year enjoyed as much as the first time I used the pattern last autumn here. This time knitted in Rico essentials soft merino aran in sage. And it really does look sage-y so please forgive the photography. The fact that it is indeed sage is why I used a pretty gentle pink velvet ribbon for the bow. Sage green and pink together... dreamy.

Friday, 14 March 2014

It seems just a little strange to be looking at a woolly hot water bottle cover when the Spring sun is shining so brightly... yet I have still quite a few woolly makes to show. So please do let us not look at the sun shining brightly and with some warmth, and instead think that the eves are still rather chilly and in fact some wooliness at these times is still wholly seasonally appropriate. And so on to the hot water bottle cover from Jenny Lord's Purls of Wisdom

Another easy to do knit, this time knitted in Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran in grey. Delightful, soft wool and a very gentle knit... I love the ribbing at the top. Carrying on with the giving of a literary hottie, I wrapped this up with some books and thought how sweet it would be to have a pocket for a book on the front. I decided to follow the pattern though because really it is far better to have a pocket in which to keep ones hands warm than heat a paperback.

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Carrying on with the woolly makes on this warm and sunny Spring day! Not so seasonally inappropriate though as it is still rather chilly at night and so just right for a literary hottie

I love the idea of giving a hot water bottle, beautifully matched to some bedtime reading, an idea found in Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Knitting. These are knitted in Cascade 220, a dream to knit with, in colours Harvest and Atlantic. I did find the funnel part of the pattern a little too long, but maybe this was just these hot water bottles. The fit everywhere else was nicely snug, and I ended up just tucking the extra in at the top. Next time I would knit a few less rows for this part, and maybe measure it against the hot water bottle rather than merrily knitting the pattern.

This really is a snug and squidgy cover and I do need to knit myself one. Maybe before the summer. And so much fun had selecting some classic Penguin titles... One Pair of Hands, Mrs Parkington...

Friday, 7 March 2014

Initially Patch decided he would like to be God or Jesus for world book day. Indisputably both are from books, yet I worried that our slightly irreverent interpretation may upset some. Other suggestions made by Patch included Willy Wonka, Bob the man on the moon, or Claude and Sir Bobblysock. As we were informed only on Monday afternoon that children may dress as a character from a book on Thursday, and that Tuesday was already spoken for as it was my birthday, that left a day. The Willy Wonka idea is most certainly stored for another occasion, and Where's Wally was settled on as the only thing we didn't have was a suitable pom pom hat. Obviously not a problem

Sadly my over full basket didn't contain anything suitable, so a trip to the local wool shop resulted in a purchase of two balls of katia Peru wool. This is a chunky wool knitted on 6 - 6.5 mm needles, a smaller size than the 8 mm suggested in the chosen pattern - the purl bee's super soft merino hats for everyone. In an attempt to stop this hat becoming a more expensive item I decided to use needles that I already own, which are 7.5mm. Oh, and are straight needles whereas the pattern is knitted in the round. And I had no head to check the fit as it was either at school or playing at a friend's after school. So I bravely knitted the child size, quickly as it is indeed a quick knit, and waited to check the fit on the head when it returned home. And it is fine, and we had a rather happy Where's Wally

Monday, 3 March 2014

Oh my, I wasn't sure I had it in me but this hat remains without pom-pom and for that I think Mr R is perhaps rather grateful.

This time I knitted the twisted rib beanie from Jenny Lord's Purls of Wisdom, using Rico fashion country aran in aubergine and Rico essentials soft merino aran in mouse grey. I prefer the merino aran, the aubergine is just a bit sheddy and scratchy. I followed the suggested adaption to make the beanie into a fisherman style... that is I added extra rows so the contrast could be turned up.

And I do like those twisted ribs. My attempts at photographing this hat without a head just didn't show those nice twists, and you may wonder why the hat is squashed into the corner of the chair, propped up with a cushion. Well, I found that in the absence of a head a balloon makes for an adequate substitute. This probably isn't true for all situations where a head is normally required, but for modelling woolly makes it really is fine. Here is the photograph I have including a head, but with the general gloominess it is rather dark!